


unveiling the unexpected

by Springsteen



Series: open all night [7]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-01
Updated: 2016-07-01
Packaged: 2018-07-19 12:25:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7361446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Springsteen/pseuds/Springsteen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>the samwell library has a bunch of hidden quirks and art pieces like the MLK jr library in san jose does and nursey is a firm believer that there is no better use of time the week before finals than tracking down the rotating bookcase and drags dex with him. nursey did not realize how cramped the space behind said bookcase would be for two sizable hockey players.</p>
            </blockquote>





	unveiling the unexpected

**Author's Note:**

> title from arctic monkeys' "secret door"

“Don’t do it.”

“I’m not even touching you.”

“I can see you thinking about it.”

“You’re not even looking at me!” 

Dex looked up at Nursey over his laptop. “Do not. Touch. My laptop.” Nursey’s fingers hovered inches away from the headphones plugged into his computer. “It’s almost finals week, I do not need to get kicked out of the library because you’re a huge douche.”

“Take a study break,” Nursey said. It wasn’t a question, he wasn’t asking. “Let’s do something fun.”

“Don’t you have poems to write or something?” Dex asked. “Does the word ‘finals’ mean anything to you?”

“Yeah,” Nursey said. “I understand the importance of a balance between work and play. I do some writing and I take some breaks, and I don’t end up curled in a ball under a table muttering about syntax and scansion.” Nursey tapped his fingers along the top of his laptop screen, causing Dex to twitch. “Come on,” Nursey said. “That was not healthy. You need to spend some time not staring at a computer screen or you’re gonna make yourself blind.”

“I don’t think that’s actually possible,” Dex said. Nursey rolled his eyes.

“Don’t care, come on. Stand up. Do some stretches.”

“You’re not gonna leave me alone, are you?” Dex saved the rough draft of the essay he was working on.

“Not a chance,” Nursey said, grinning. 

From the other end of the table, Chowder and Farmer looked up from the video they’d been watching on Chowder’s laptop. “Are you guys going somewhere?” Chowder asked.

“Forced study break,” Dex said. “If I’m not back in half an hour, send help.”

“Okay,” Chowder said, putting his arm around Farmer and turning his attention back to whatever they’d been watching.

Dex left his stuff with Chow and Farmer and followed Nursey through the library. “Where are we going?”

“On an adventure,” Nursey replied. “I got this text from Johnson yesterday - the goalie before Chowder, y’know? I didn’t even know he had my number. All it said was ‘Crucial information: secret room behind east bookshelf in engineering room’.”

The Samwell library was a strange building, mostly because it had once been a very old building and had several new additions over the years. Supposedly, there was a hidden staircase between the additions that led all the way from the basement to the roof. There was also, allegedly, a secret reading room that had belonged to one of the defunct fraternities that had been on campus in the ‘20s, locked away or remodeled or lost in some kind of time-space bend. Samwell was a fascinating place, and the library was the closest thing they had to Hogwarts. 

“You’re joking,” Dex said. “You pulled me away from my work to chase a campus myth.”

“Dude, you were going cross-eyed,” Nursey said. “Trust me, it’ll be good for you. If there’s nothing there, we’ll just grab some coffee and you can go right back to nerd-a-palooza.” 

Dex glared at him. They were already standing outside the engineering room, a big room in an older part of the library full of engineering textbooks and outdated drafting tables. “Fine.” Dex opened the door and they walked into the room, which was completely and totally silent. There were a few students studying at the long tables that ran down the center of the room, but most of the engineering students chose to study in the updated labs in the science buildings. 

“Which one is the east bookshelf?” Dex nearly jumped. Nursey was right behind him, whispering in his ear. 

Dex looked around the room. “It’s this way,” he whispered over his shoulder. “You can see the pond through that window.” He crossed the room to the bookshelf. He could feel Nursey right behind him, matching his every move like some weirdly intense hockey drill. “So you just push it?” he asked, standing in front of the bookshelf. It spanned from floor to ceiling and was full of thick, heavy textbooks on thermodynamics. 

“That’s what the text said.” Nursey’s lips brushed Dex’s ear. He fought back a shiver. 

“Push how? Does it slide or pivot or is it a hinge or what?”

“I don’t know, man,” Nursey whispered. “It’s not like he sent step-by-step instructions.” He reached past Dex to push the bookshelf. It didn’t move. He grabbed one of the shelves and pulled, fortunately managing not to knock down an entire shelf of books. Dex knocked Nursey’s hand away and pushed at the side of the bookshelf. It slid easily to the left, covering a recessed alcove and revealing a narrow, dark space. 

“Sick,” Nursey whispered, grabbing the front of Dex’s shirt and pulling him into the hidden space. The shelf slid closed behind them. “Whoa, it’s dark in - oof!” Dex put his hands up, feeling his way along the dark space. The wall felt oddly soft. Nursey made a soft noise of pleasure and rolled his shoulders. Dex realized he’d been feeling across Nursey’s back and pulled his hands back quickly. 

“Does this go anywhere?” he asked. 

“Think that depends on you, bro,” Nursey replied suggestively. Dex could feel himself blushing furiously and hoped it was too dark for Nursey to notice. 

“This is the tiniest room ever,” Dex said. “Like a crawlspace or something.”

“How do we get out of here?”

“Same way we got in, I guess.” Dex could see a tiny gap between the bookshelves, letting a sliver of light into the space. He wanted to reach out to find a handle or some way to open the shelves, but he didn’t want to accidentally touch Nursey again. The space was tiny - barely deep enough for them to stand in. He could feel Nursey standing next to him, his chest warm against Dex’s side. 

“There’s nothing else over here,” Nursey said. He pressed one hand against Dex’s back and reached across his body, feeling the empty air to Dex’s left. “Does it go very far this way?”

“You’re standing on my foot,” Dex said, because it was easier to focus on that than on the warmth of Nursey’s hand pressed against his back, or the way he’d curled his body against Dex’s, the way Nursey made him feel more caged in than this tiny space ever could. 

“Sorry, bro,” Nursey said. Dex had half-expected him to argue, and was surprised by his genuine response. He moved his foot but didn’t move away. “Just wanna explore this weird but awesome library hiding spot. What do you think this was built for, anyway?”

“Like you said, could be a hiding space,” Dex said. “It wouldn’t really make sense to be, like, alcohol in prohibition, though. And I don’t know why the Samwell library would need to hide books in here, that would be weird. Could be leftover from when they built an addition, might have led somewhere but got closed off. I don’t know.” Dex was rambling. Dex never rambled. He either was confident with what he was talking about, or he didn’t say anything. Now, he had no idea what he was saying because all he could focus on was Nursey’s hand, still pressing into his back, no space between them in the tiny room. 

“So are you saying if we break through one of these walls we could find a secret passage?” Nursey asked.

“What? No,” Dex said. “That’s a terrible idea. I should get back to studying.” Dex reached out to the trick shelf, but Nursey grabbed his hand.

“Wait,” he whispered, turning Dex to face him. Nursey kissed him, a soft press of lips to the corner of his mouth. Nursey pulled back, putting as much distance between them as he could in the cramped space. “Okay,” Nursey said. “I had to do that, just once. I guess I’ve distracted you long enough.”

“No,” Dex said simply. “No, fuck that.” He reached out until he found Nursey, not even an arm’s length away, grabbed his shoulders and kissed him. Nursey stumbled back into the wall, pulling Dex with him. Dex heard a distant thump but ignored it in favor of sliding his hands into Nursey’s hair, pushing himself closer and loving the feel of Nursey’s lips on his own, Nursey’s big hands wrapped around Dex’s shoulders.

“I thought you had to get back to studying,” Nursey whispered against his lips.

“I don’t care,” Dex said. The last thing he wanted to think about right now was his sociology essay. 

“Yes you do,” Nursey said. He gave Dex one last, lingering kiss before reaching back to slide the bookshelf open. “I can’t let you flunk out of the team.” 

When they stumbled out of the hidden space, there was a pile of books on the floor in front of the shelf. All three of the students in the room stared at them. Dex grabbed Nursey’s hand and dragged him out of the room as fast as he could, Nursey laughing the whole way. 

“I am not getting kicked out of the library because of you,” Dex hissed over his shoulder.

“Come on, that was worth it,” Nursey said, grinning.

Dex glared at him. He sat down at their table, where Chowder and Farmer were now studying, grabbed his laptop and going back to his essay. Nursey sat down across from him, hooking his ankles around Dex’s under the table. He couldn’t afford to get kicked out of the library just before finals week. He and Nursey would have to be more subtle about their study breaks. There had to be other secret rooms in this library, and he planned to find as many as he could with Nursey before the end of the semester.


End file.
